Meeting: Writing With (AP) Style

Lotsa basic AP Style goofs that we've blogged about before, and that we should have down pat by now, including:

When part of a numbered street address, abbreviate East, West, North and South; and street and avenue, like this: I live at 123 N. Sesame St. Please see addresses for details.

When not part of a numbered street address, do not abbreviate East, West, North and South, or street and avenue, like this: I live on North Sesame Street. Please see addresses for details.





We always spell out the word percent and never use the percent symbol of %. So, you say something is 12 percent, and not 12%. Please see percent for details.

Last names only are used on second and subsequent references. So on first reference it would be a first and last name: Greg Hubbard. On second reference, it's just Hubbard. Please see names for details.

Titles are not used on second and subsequent references. So, where you may say Supt. Greg Hubbard on first reference, from then on it's just Hubbard, without title. Please see titles for details.

For money, we use the dollar symbol ($) instead of spelling out dollars. So, it's $618 million, not 618 million dollars. Please see dollars for details.

In general, spell out numbers from zero to nine, and use digits for 10 and above. So, nine is nine, not 9. And 11 is 11, not eleven. There are numerous exceptions to the rule; please see numerals for details. 

Again, these are some basic rules. Let's make sure we're remembering 'em, and using 'em.